Marathon

We are in Boot Key Harbor. The "city" of Marathon in the Florida Keys.

We arrived Christmas Day after a part way inside passage from Tarpon Basin, Key Largo. We went through Channel Five back into the ocean where we had a nice sail to Boot Key Harbor. We picked up a city marina mooring and we'll stay here for about a month.

We've been to Key West by bus where, besides shopping, we met with friends who moor near us in Mystic. Another couple near us in Mystic are here on a mooring in our same harbor. Lisa volunteers in the local Turtle Hospital/Sanctuary and we visited there Wed. Very interesting.

Heather has been with us for a week but heads to Miami for a flight home to Brooklyn with Luca. Luca loved the boat but our cat, Cleo, does not love having another cat in her territory.

Weather has been cool and windy but is now warming up again. Of course getting down to 50 at night is not quite the same as a 10 degree blizzard at home ;>)

Oh, nothing has broken down for a week. That's news.

Fort Lauderdale

I tried several times to post a blog with my video of the Fort Pierce Holiday display. Trust me, it's great. But it won't upload. This blog is being writen on my phone so no photos either. I'll add some later when I edit this entry from our laptop.

Anyway... We are now in Fort Lauderdale. Sunday 19 December. Had some cold mornings in Fort Pierce the last two weeks (near freezing) but the days were never lower than 55. Usually mid-60s.

With Carol still off at work I left Fort Pierce with Mike Guay and his friend Ted aboard. We motored to Stuart by way of the ICW so I could get generator work completed. While there a leaking exhaust riser was discovered so we are short one engine. We went offshore from St Lucie (Stuart) to Lake Worth which is the Palm Beach area. Big mistake. Head wind a seas and only one operating engine make for a long semi-miserable day. Arrived safely and my crew went home and Carol came home to the boat to rejoin the cruise.

We had a nice, fast, if somewhat boisterous sail to Fort Lauderdale. Boat speeds nearly got to 11 kts at times.

We are anchored in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale which is just a basin among the canals and expensive homes in the area. Pretty and protected. Tomorrow we head to Miami (offshore again) or really to the Key Biscayne - Dinner Key area. We'll wait there for Heather and Luca to join us for the holidays.

The key thing, no pun intended... No, really, is the word Key in our destinations or stops. As in THE Keys. We have arrived! Or will tomorrow.

It's going to be cool, only in the mid-70s, for a few days but with blue skies and bluer water.

Although we plan to go a little way up the west coast of Fla in January the Keys were our real destination and we are just 20 or so miles away. Just a few hours unless the other engine quits.

Can't wait.

Fort Pierce

We arrived in Fort Pierce Florida two days after Thanksgiving. We had a long day of travelling on Thanksgiving as many do but ours was a little different. At the end of the day we had stuffing, creamed onions, peas and pumpkin pie. All the good stuff with out murdering any over bred birds.

Black Friday wasn't that great for us. Another long day but along an uninteresting section of the ICW. Strong winds and currents slowed us down and the weather was threatening most of the day but...

Saturday got us to Ft. Pierce where we"ll stay for a while. Carol has to go off to work next week. Again. But on the positive side we are now in an area with tropical, clear, green water and we have good friends here on shore that we'll visit with and do stuff with. The only down side is tropical weather. Muggy and unstable. Afternoon showers and thunder storms are always a possibility.

But, on the other hand, it is in the high 70s - low 80s every day.

Fernandina Beach. Our first Florida sunrise.

More dolphin stories?

Sick of dolphin stories yet?

While we were in the dinghy heading to the marina a pair of dolphin came at us at a right angle, right at our beam. They came up to breathe and saw they were very close to us. They dove deeper and I could see them pass under the dink, make a right turn while still submerged and head aft. Then about ten feet back one leapt out of the water, twisting so he (she?) was facing in our direction so it could get a good look at us. Very awesome! It had no reason to do this except to check us out.

Early Saturday morning, the 20th, we headed out of Charleston Harbor for an overnight bluewater passage to Florida. First time that far off shore (about 40nm) and first time overnight at sea. About a 150nm trip.

While on this passage dolphin would come zooming towards us then turn to ride our bow wave. They would ride with their tails just under the bows of our boat. They would also look back and up at us. We could even hear them clicking and whistling.

This trip was motorsailing during the day before the wind shifted to our nose and then faded. It was a calm, moonlit night with 4 foot swells and at the end we were in Florida. Fernandina Beach.

Two days later we are at St Augustine. The ICW from Jacksonville to St Auggie is very pretty and we also saw a pair of Bald Eagles mating on a daymark. Haven't seen birds mating since our time in the Galapagos Islands.

One more thing: now we have dolphin photos.

Dolphins

Still in Charleston but blogging on request. Who??? You may ask. Well, let's just say more than one person has asked but will remain unknown to prevent embarassment.

We've been anchored for more than a week and have another week to go since Carol is heading off to Dallas soon. After a couple of days we set a stern anchor to attempt to keep us lined up with the current in the Ashley River. This kept us from swinging 4 times a day and over-running the rode (anchor line). It was noisy and nerve wracking at night. Sleeping better since then. Bahamian anchoring doesn't work as well when you have two bows. There is a downside. The stern anchor rode sticks out off the back and can be snagged by a boat if it comes too close. 10 feet being too close. Today a sailboat caught on it and then yelled at me for not anchoring according to his standards. Him coming within a boat length was, of course, not the cause. They were (French) Canadian. No other explanation needed.

On a more pleasant note we have seen quite a few dolphin. We had one in the marina near us when we were in the dinghy returning to the boat. Today we had one swim by the bow very close. Didn't see it (not looking) until we heard him (her) breathe. Dolphin are very common here but I hope we never get used to it.

Next up is seeing a whale from our own boat. Could happen off Cape Cod but hasn't yet. Could happen here if we went offshore. There are Right Whales in this area and down to Georgia.

Weather's been good for over a week so when it's time to it will likely be worse. We need to push to get into Florida before Carol has to work again.

Charleston

We got to Charleston on 1 November. Saw Ft. Sumter from our own deck. More dolphins, of course. And the Ravenell Bridge with the Yorktown near it. 

We stayed two nights at the City Marina but we'll move to a nearby anchorage for a few weeks. Shopping, laundry, sightseeing. A lot of sightseeing. Oh, and boat repair, maintenance, etc.

When we started this cruise from Mystic I thought I would photograph all the bridges we went under or through. Took photos in NYC and the C&D Canal but after that we stopped, except for the Wilkerson on the ICW which was only 64ft above the water. Turns out that most of the bridges after NYC were boring highway bridges, one uglier than the last. The swing and bascule bridges were more interesting but we are too busy when we go through those. So the bridge photos have stopped. Maybe to the relief of friends and family.

All Hallows Eve

The miles are melting away even though we stopped for two days this past week.

We started in North and ended in South Carolina. Sunday we left Belhaven, NC and traversed the Pungo River, the Pamlico and the Neuse River. Pamlico has the potential to be bad but wasn't. We anchored in Cedar Creek off of Adam's Creek which is the ICW. Found this spot on our although we were not alone.

Monday we got to Beaufort early and took a slip in a marina. Getting into a slip with this boat is a challenge. Just after we were scraping the rubber sides of the dock Carol says to turn to starboard. Hmmmm. No problem, the rubber scrubbed off. We stayed two nights and did laundry, shopping and sightseeing. Nice town.

Wed. we left and ended up in a little creek somewhere near Topsail Inlet. We were underway more than 10 hours and covered about 60 miles. During the passage we were buzzed repeatedly by Marine Corp Harrier jets. No more than 500 ft above us. We watched them do vertical take off and landings.

Thursday we went to Wrightsville Beach. We started late due to rain and thunderstorms and stopped early for the same reason.

Friday as we left Wrightsville we went aground in the channel that would take us back to the ICW. We were in the channel but "someone" didn't follow instructions or go out the way we came in. 30 minute delay. We ended up at Calabash creek very late due to current and bridge delays. This place is just over the South Carolina border.

Saturday we overslept and didn't get underway until almost 0800. We made up for it by stopping early (1500, that's 3pm) behind a little island near Wacca Wache. You cannot make this up.

As I write this we have transitted the Waccamaw and the Great Pee Dee Rivers and are back into the Ditch. Don't know what was so great about the Pee Dee.

Monday or Tuesday we will be in Charleston and will stay for about 3 weeks as Carol goes off to work.

Complaints about the lack of photos will be addressed when we have Wi-Fi ashore. Photos are on the laptop not my phone which I'm using to write this blog.

They are now on Picassa. Request the link if you want to see them.

24 October 2010

We accomplished a lot this week. It started in Annapolis and ended in Belhaven, NC.

We went to Solomons Island, getting about 3hrs of motorsailing in before stopping at the dock of Jack and Kathy Locher. Mill Creek is very nice.

From there we went Deltaville, VA. Jackson Creek. It was a 9hr trip with nearly 4hrs of sailing. A very small, narrow entrance but a nice anchorage.

Tuesday we got to Hampton, VA. 3hrs of motorsailing out of a 7hr day. No place to anchor so we got a slip at a marina for 2 nights. 2nd day was forecast to be rainy so we did some laundry, got fuel and water and then took down wind instruments and lights off the top of the mast. We went to the Virginia Air and Space Center. Not the Smithsonian but very good.

Then: a big day. We went across Hampton Roads to Norfolk. Very busy habor and river. This area makes NYC look like the CT River. Many Navy warships and restricted areas. Passed by freighters and barges before getting into the ICW and going under a number of 65ft bridges including one we touched with our antenna. We also went through Great Bridge Locks. Neat. We ended up anchoring just over the boarder into North Carolina. 

Friday we had an engine belt for cooling break. Changed it while underway before we stopped at Coinjock for fuel. Crossed Albemarle Sound into the Alligator River.

Saturday was a long canal run with a 64ft bridge at the end of it. We got under it just touching it with the antenna a bit. Thursday we touched a so-called 65ft bridge and Saturday we had less trouble with a 64ft bridge. We still don't know what we can trust or how tall our mast really is.

Another day of good weather forecast and we hope to be to Beaufort before a rainy period sets in.

17 October 2010

It's nearly 1000 as I write this (10am) Sunday morning.

We are finally heading south again. We left Annapolis before 0800 and we're now in the middle of the Bay, L 38 43.9 N, Lo 76 26.6 W. We are motorsailing because the wind angle is too close to the bow but the RPMs are reduced. May be able to shut them off later. Blue skies. Cool. Very cool. Gloves and heavy coats on but not our mid-winter coats. Hope it's warmer south.

We are headed for Solomons Island. Pretty area but we won't be staying long. Tomorrow we have to move on because Tues and WWed are likely rainy days. Not stormy we hope.

We are collecting many boat cards, and giving ours out. We'll see if we meet up with any of these people as we.get further south.

We'll, my turn to take the helm.

TTFN

Sunday 10 October 2010

We're in Annapolis. West Annapolis to be precise. Anchored in Weems Creek.

It's a little noisy because the highway bridge is kinda close but it's within walking distance of groceries and other supplies and services and it's biking distance to downtown.

The only negative is the free trolley doesn't run out to here anymore.

We got here Friday after being put back in the water on Thursday. An easy trip. Not too far. Boat seems faster without all the growth on the bottom.

We went to the boatshow yesterday. We go every year but first time by boat.

Tuesday Carol flies out again. This time to Texas. Next weekend we get underway again. Weather permitting.

3 October 2010

A second week of cruising comes to an end. I realized that I did not ID the photos in my last blog. I started taking pictures of all the bridges we have and will be going through.

We went through the Throgs Neck to exit L.I. Sound and the photo of the lift bridge is the Roosevelt Island Bridge. We had to go through it on the east side of Roosevelt Island because the UN was in session closing the west side of the East River. There is a photo of the UN as we went past. We went by the Statue of Liberty as close as the security zone allows. Took a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge and finally, the Veranzano-Narrows Bridge, the exit from NYC. The last photo is two bridges in the C & D Canal.

So much for last week.

This week we finished the trip through the C&D and ended up at Worton Creek. Our first Chesapeake creek anchorage. We spent two nights there, almost a day of it in the rain. We also caught a crab pot when we were approaching Worton Creek. It shut down our starboard engine as we dragged it more than a mile before it cut free. I had to do a dive to get the rest of the line and float free.

On Wednesday we had a 3 or 4 hour break in the rain and went to Bodkin Creek. It's in Pasadena, MD, not too far from Baltimore. It rained from Wed. afternoon to Friday morning. On Thursday alone it rained more than 6 inches. Major flooding. The marina we were going to had 6 inches of water over the docks. We put off going there until Friday because of this. On Friday we got our boat hauled and then it was moved to another spot on Saturday. Fri, Sat, Sun we got a lot of work done. Had to hurry because Sunday afternoon the rain started again and it's forecast to continue through Wednesday. Won't get much work done outside if it's raining. :>((

Carol is off to Cleveland to work for the Joint Commission and we hope to head for Annapolis on Friday and then attend the Boat Show. Until then it's me and Cleo working on the boat. Well... one of us.

We don't start pushing south until after the 17th of the month.

Sunday 9-26-10

We've ended our seventh day of our cruise south on the C & D Canal which connects Delaware Bay with Chesapeake Bay.

We started out on Monday with a long, rough, FANTASTIC sail from Mystic to Port Jefferson. Best sail in years. Longest sail ever.

Tuesday we motored in no wind to Port Washington. The last few miles the water was a dark red. Like a gazillion gallons of blood was in the water.

Wednesday we left our comfort zone and headed through NYC. Turned out not to be too bad. Ended up at Atlantic Highlands where we had a 45 minute adventure as a really bad storm went by around 8:15. We were fine but two boats that were not as well prepared came close to hitting us. Close doesn't count. 

Thursday got us to Atlantic City after dark. A challenge but all went fine.

Friday got us to Cape May after a late start due to dense fog. We got underway after visibility improved to 1/4 mile.

Saturday was a nice day and we stayed in Cape May for sightseeing and fuel. We should have left.

Sunday was way worse than forecast. We went around Cape May in 20+ kt. winds, 6 ft seas and 10 ft depths. Then it got bad. A major bash for more than 15 miles; a decent motorsail for 15 miles; a minor bash for 10 miles; then an easy go of it for the last 5 miles and the first half of the C & D Canal. Second half of the canal starts tomorrow. So does three or four days of stormy weather.

People in Delaware are not very helpful. Or friendly.

A long week and a lot of miles. A lot of fuel burned, too.

Shorter travel days planned for the next few weeks.

Thursday, 9-23-10

As I write this were about 5nm off the coast of NJ motorsailing between Manasquan and Barnegat. Haven't decided how far we'll travel today/tonight.

Yesterday we went through NYC. About 3 hours not counting the delay at the Roosevelt Island Bridge. West side of the East River closed due to the UN being in session. All in all not bad and we were lucky not to have any major traffic conflicts in any narrow spots. First time through Hell Gate went well.

We went to Atlantic Higlands, Sandy Hook, NJ and anchored. A major T-storm just missed a direct hit and we "only" got 40kt winds. We stayed secure but two boats in front of us dragged anchors and came close to hitting us which would have been very bad. Very, very bad, but nothing happened. Our prep payed off and we went back to bed after 45 min. Almost an adventure.

Next adventure is deciding what our next harbor is and when. After dark???

Underway at last

After many years of planning, hoping and working towards this day we are finally underway. So far it's not much different than other sailing trips since we will still be in L. I. Sound until at least Wed. Today is sunny but it's pretty boisterous with winds over 20 kts. Seas are choppy but only about 1 ft. Due to the direction of the wind.

I plan to update at least weekly, on Sundays, or as often as interesting things happen.

Three week summer cruise

     Our 2010 vacation cruise just ended. Okay. It was Carol and Heather's vacation. I don't think it can be a vacation for me if I don't work.

     The cruise didn't start out so great since Piggy Sue died aboard Infinite Improbability while underway heading for Point Judith, RI. She almost made it to 19 years old, way beyond normal life expectancy, and didn't really suffer at all. Just an uncomfortable last night and morning. She was buried on an uninhabited island she had visited many times during her boating life.

  

        The cruise improved after that. A relaxing week going around Narragansett Bay with good friends from the Waterbury Power Squadron. It included taking Mike and Ann Marino's kids sailing. Excellent crew! And also included side trips on a powerboat (Thanks, Jon) to Bristol and Fall River. I was made to take the helm of said powerboat for a while. I hope there are no photos!

     Carol and Heather joined me in Newport to take their vacations. Had an adventure before they were aboard as a large powerboat anchored too near me. When a storm and wind shift occurred no one was aboard it and I had to move to save our boat from damage under very adverse solo conditions. When confronted the next day they were extremely indifferent to the danger they caused me. #@#!!*&@ powerboaters!

Newport after a cold front.

     We then headed to Onset, MA. A long leg but a nice sail. Then we went through the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown. Spent three nights there and went on a whale watch.

     Then it was back through the canal to Onset. Heather had to rent a car there to get back to Brooklyn. 

     After Heather left, Carol and I just had a lazy cruise around Buzzard's Bay. Had a very interesting sail from Hadley Harbor to Padanaram but Cleo (the cat) didn't like it much. She got seasick. Yuck! First person who can pronounce Padanaram who is not named 'Guay' wins a prize.

     A long leg from Cuttyhunk to Mystic ended this cruise. We had severe weather around us at times during the three weeks but never a direct hit.  Never more than a few hours of rain a couple of times and only one very foggy leg trying to outrun a thunderstorm to Cuttyhunk.

      All in all, a nice cruise except for our loss at the very beginning. Piggy Sue was with us a long time and passing away while aboard and underway was a very fitting end.

     Next up? A couple of short weekend Power Squadron events and then preparing for a major life change... Living aboard and cruising south for the winter.

The summer so far

     Our summer vacation cruise is just about a week away so a recap of the summer so far might be in order. It will be Carol's vacation cruise since I am on a permanent vacation ;>))

     Memorial Day Weekend, Heather joined us on a trip to Montauk, NY. Got a little sailing in but as usual it was mostly motorsailing. Spent a little time at the Ditch Plains beach and Heather got a some photos of a reasonably well known actor. She totally missed his hot wife who was nearby. Go figure. BTW the definition of a reasonably well known actor is... one that I've heard of (and seen on TV, at least) but not a movie mega-star. Heather also got the chance to meet up with some friends who were vacationing in the area. A very light wind on the return trip gave us a chance to play with (for the first time) our spinnaker. It worked, got dried out, but was not a great success. Plus, Carol hates spinnakers.

     The third week in June had us in West Neck Harbor at Shelter Island, NY. We met the Squadron there for a raft-up and we all had a grand time. One minor issue was dragging our anchor Saturday morning when three boats were rafted with us. Two more than I like but it's hard to say no. Re-anchoring solo was not a big deal and then another boat came to raft with us afterwards but we had no further problems. We had our usual get-together in the afternoon and had two dozen people aboard. A drop in participation from last year. The other major event was the discovery of how many barnacles we had growing on the bottom of our boat. They were huge and covered large sections of the hull. We got started on scraping but ran out of air and energy before the job was done. Blood was shed. Mostly by me. Didn't do the barnacles any good, either. On the voyage home we caught an unidentified fish (maybe a Coho) near The Ruins near Gardiner's Island, NY. Released it.

     We just got back a few days ago from a mini-cruise to Port Jefferson, NY. for the 4th of July holiday. We left on the Thursday before the holiday weekend and sailed (sailed!) towards Mattituck, NY. We got as far as the eastern end of Plum Island before we ran out of ocean and had to turn west into the wind and motor the rest of the way. Quite typical. A mile or two from the Mattituck Inlet entrance we caught a bluefish. It was about 16-18 inches and we should have kept, filleted and ate it but we were so close to the end of this leg of the trip we didn't want to be bothered. Released it. Going down the creek Carol suddenly asked about the low hanging power lines and the height of our mast. I had gone under (and cleared) the wires last year and felt we would be okay but I didn't remember if the height of the tide would be an issue. A couple of minutes of nervousness but no wire touching was the result. I found the info on the chart after we were under and saw we had at least 13 feet of clearance under the most adverse possible conditions but it sure looks closer! While anchoring we got a lobsterpot buoy caught in the port prop. No damage but someone missed seeing it ahead of time. A quick free-dive got it cleared. The next day we headed out to go to PJ (Port Jeff). Motored right into the wind the whole day. Caught another bluefish when we neared PJ. This one was maybe 12 inches and we let it go, too. Getting too picky.

Heather came to the harbor by train and we spent three nights anchored there. Decent fireworks on Sunday (the 4th) night. Finished the bottom scraping job with no further bruising or bloodshed. Monday there was no wind on the Sound and we headed back to Mattituck under power. Caught another bluefish as we got close. This one was less than 12 inches and we let it go. Decided we should not have let the 18 incher go a few days ago. We anchored and Heather quickly jumped off the boat to catch a train back to the City. Tuesday was another H-H-H and low wind day and we finished our trip back to Mystic. Did NOT catch a fish. I guess the lure doesn't work anymore. Maybe it's broken. We had an encounter with an unescorted submarine. We got a 500 yard warning from them and altered course even though we had the right-of-way. Post 9/11 rule... stay away from warships. It was brutally hot for the third straight day, even on the water. Carol did some trolling (dangling feet in the water) while underway even though we encountered sharks shortly after doing this a year ago.

The only major down note of the summer is the end of my relationship with the Meriden Humane Society. They decided that nepotism and egos were more important than a core of four dedicated cat volunteers. People who were there many hours a week and donated items and money became redundant over a parody of ridiculous postings of sophomoric rules. Too bad. One of my fellow volunteers donated hundreds of dollars and hours a month but was unappreciated and unwanted. This is a 'no-kill' shelter but not always a 'no-suffering' shelter. Many damaged people running the place. Animals sometimes are undercared for as a result. 

A Fishing Trip. Really?

     Our first cruise in the season was a fishing trip.

     Fishing? Me? Really?

     Yup.

     Mike Guay and I took Infinite Improbability to Block Island to join members of the Waterbury Power Squadron on the First Annual (if the wives allow it again) Men's Fishing Trip. Friday 21 May (Heather's Birthday!) we headed out early and when we got out to Block Island Sound we started trolling two lines behind us. We were motoring because of absolutely no wind but cutting back our RPMs to a better fishing speed. After being enroute for about 8nm the breeze picked up and we decided to reel in the lines to prepare to sail. That's when a Striper (Striped Bass) hit the lure Mike had put on my fishing pole. After a little scramble to get the boat organized I reeled it in. First time for me. Never fought a fish before. And it was a fight. This guy was not interested in being dinner that night. But he was.

I thought the fish was 3 feet long after we measured it but after being 'consulted' by experienced fishermen I found out it was 36 inches. Go figure. No matter the length, it was delish.

     Saturday the squadron guys went out on three boats for the actual fishing outing. Two boats were owned by big time fishing guys, the third was a cruising tug style vessel. I was with one of the fishing fanatics (finatics?) and Mike G. was on the cruising boat. We caught one skate. The other fishing boat caught a skate and one other non-edible species. The cruising boat caught 10 fish but only two were edible and they were not of legal size and were also released. 6+ hours, no keepers. I guess this is fishing. I caught one the first time out (enroute) and thought that's how it's done. Apparently not.

     We were fishing on the north side of Block Island, east and west of the north reef. It was so foggy we didn't see anything most of the day. I guess it was too foggy for the fish to find the bait. The bait was squid from Stop & Shop. We would have been better off making calamari for that nights dinner than fishing with it.                                                                                                                                                               

    On Sunday we headed back to Mystic and again it was very foggy. 1/4 to 1nm visibility but with a light breeze. We sailed a slow (trolling) speed but caught no fish.                                                                         

     All in all it was a great weekend, fog aside. Got some sailing in. Learned about fishing and fileting. Hung out with a diverse group of guys who love the boating (and fishing) lifestyle. What could be better?                                              

        

New Season

     It's finally the start of a new sailing season. We hope this will be an endless season as we plan to move aboard our boat full time and not winter in New England again. If we never winterize, the season never ends.

     The boat overwintered in the water in Clinton, CT. so didn't have a launch. Just uncovered it. De-winterized the engines and freshwater systems and ready to go.

     Well, not really. It still needs a lot of cleaning.

     Regardless of status the boat had to be moved by 15 April and on Wednesday the 14th we did just that. With the help of Frank Krapf, a Waterbury Squadron member, we headed for Mystic on a beautiful sunny day.

     Motorsailing until the Conn. River and then a nice sail to the New London area when we started motorsailing again until the Fisher's Island Sound area.

     Then came our first adventure of the season. We came into our mooring area at dead low tide and knew we were going to go aground. When the inevitable happens, you're still annoyed at the inconvienience. A couple of hundred feet short of where we were going to anchor we got stuck. Had to wait about 90 minutes for the water to get deep enough to move to the proper spot. The downside to having a relatively inexpensive mooring in a pretty and protected area is not always having enough water to float in.

     It is almost guaranteed this will not be the first time Infinite Improbability will be aground this year. It may be a common occurance once we get to the ICW.

     Now if we could just get the house, land and other boat sold.